I’m back!  Since I have not written a blog for a few weeks, I am going to backtrack a bit to cover all of the exciting events that have happened.

Tutoring at Usa River Academy has continued to go well, and I love getting to know the children better both as students and as kids! I tutor math with my Class 5 boys (Yusufu, Joshua, Mandu, and Aminiel), and various literacy skills with the students in Classes 3, 4, 5, and 6. One of the literacy skills we are working on is phonics. As I re-taught myself the letter combinations and made flashcards, and I discovered (once again) that English makes absolutely no sense. Do you know that “–ough” makes six different sounds?! Why are “rough” and “dough” pronounced entirely differently, even though the only difference is in the first letter? I have found that it is very difficult to teach specific spelling rules in English, because there are always unexplainable exceptions. Some things just require memorization. This entire process makes me appreciate my elementary school teachers even more, because they managed to teach classrooms full of 24 antsy children how to read. Teachers are the best! Here is a picture of me with girls from Classes 3 and 4. We had just finished lunch…yum!

Since the last time I wrote a blog post, I have also added a second full-day at URA to my week. Now, I am at the school from 8:00 in the morning until 5:00 in the afternoon on Thursdays and Fridays. It is absolutely exhausting but also the best part of my week. I have been “going solo” and teaching some of my own classes, which is exciting and very intimidating at the same time. My favorite is Class 5 math, which is a packed class of 28 students. You can imagine my thoughts as I walked into the classroom for the first time and the teacher said, “We’re doing decimals. You can teach that, right? I have to go.” I guess that I am learning how to swim by jumping into the deep end! Thankfully, I’ve yet to drown.

Another highlight from last week was the Fourth of July, which was celebrated quite differently here than at home! I showed my patriotic pride by wearing red, white, and blue, thanks to a borrowed red belt and bracelet from my host mother! Because the fourth fell on a Thursday, I brought biscuits (cookies) into school for the all the Class 3 students. I am pretty sure that they love the Fourth of July and would like to celebrate it each year. It is amazing what cookies can do to impact the opinions of nine year olds! In the evening, Chloe, Katy (her sister), Daniel, Hellen (my host mother), and I went out for some American food and a trivia night. The food was delicious, and we won third place in trivia! It was an unconventional but very fun way to celebrate the day. Here is a picture of Chloe, Katy, Hellen, and me with our prize from trivia.

I think that’s all for this time. My days are filled with new experiences, people, challenges, and joys, and I am finding it difficult to keep everything straight in my mind! I cannot believe that I have less than three weeks left here. Time has passed quicker than I thought possible, and I can honestly say that I do not want to leave. I have been deeply impacted by the students I have met, and I know that they are teaching me much, much more than I could ever hope to teach them. They may be learning long division, but I am constantly receiving lessons in gratitude, determination, and joy. I hope that this final third of my trip will be as fulfilling and incredible as my first six weeks were. If that’s the case, I cannot wait to savor every day that remains.